In the second round, five still had clean slates - Samantha Morrison (Tauranga) on Biarritz, Rose Alfeld (Canterbury) on My Super Nova, Katie Laurie (Mystery Creek) on Dunstan Springfield, Melody Matheson (Hastings) on Roulette MH and Cubitt.
Cubitt and her mount, affectionately known as Beetle, were the last to go in the jump-off.
Morrison, in her maiden jump in the class, with "Pierre", was the only one to go through unblemished, clocking 40.83s.
The unflappable 20-year-old watched as four of them came and went amid "oohs and aahs" from the expectant crowd.
As fortune would have it, Lady Luck favoured the journeywoman over the rookie.
"It's the first year in the Lady Rider after lots of years of trying," said a beaming Cubitt, juggling a cellphone to receive congratulatory calls while grasping a posy of flowers.
"I've had almost 15 years of having a go so lots of places and lots of near-misses with almost wins but I finally got it and it all came right on the day."
In the spirit of "ladies", she hailed it as a "damn good and competitive class that you really want to win". No cattiness, thank you.
"We're competing against each other every other weekend and then we come together here to have a go," she said, mindful that to prevail in any class when the "spectacular" Laurie is in the field is one to savour.
"In all the shows she's just so hard to beat so to have a such a great field and come out with a win makes it so much better."
Morrison and Biarritz were quick but Cubitt usually prefers to ride first to apply pressure from the beginning.
"You just try to keep your cool out there and do the best you can do on your horse - my horse was just fantastic today."
It's the spell before the warm up that jangles her nerves more than when she's in the saddle or standing at the gates.
Beetle was feeling "pretty good" although Cubitt counted her lucky stars on the second last fence when he wobbled a little to rattle the woodwork.
"I wasn't quite sure I'd got it until I looked at my husband and his arm was in the air and that's when I knew and got excited," she said, after they tied the knot in May last year.
"Yes, he gets pretty excited. He is Irish," she said with a grin.
Sean had simply given her a pat on the leg before she entered the The Gerrit Beker (Tauranga)-designed course with a comforting: "Just go for it."
With just Morrison to eclipse, he understood it was a case of go hard or go home.
Coincidentally, the Cubitts got engaged on the same day the Lauries did last year, married a month apart and had their babies a month from each other.
The Cubbits' baby, Finn, is 6.5 months old but she doesn't think her luck has necessarily changed because she no longer rides under her maiden name.
She didn't wake up yesterday feeling like it was going to be her day either.
"I caught a very early night last night so fortunately that may have helped," she said, echoing the sentiments of mothers with babies.
Cubitt has won a lot of titles but not the premier JB Olympic class. She will compete on a European horse, Mon Deja Vue, who she has been riding for just five weeks.
Beetle has had her ups and-downs with niggly injuries in the past 18 months so Cubitt has only just brought her up to grade.
"So we just want to keep her at this height [1.40m-1.45m] where she's really happy.
"He's [Mon Deja Vue] a very big slopey jumper so that Olympic height is more suited to him."
A smiling Morrison said of Pierre: "He was awesome. He listened to me and jumped very clean.
"It's very nerve-wracking and I would have been absolutely over the moon had I won but at the same time second is very good for me in my first time at the Lady Rider which has been around for many, many years."
She has entered Pierre in the Olympic class but isn't sure she will go through with it, considering the horse has only competed once at that level.
She thanked coach Jeff McVean and daughter Laurie for giving her tips.
